This beautiful warm weekend offers a well-deserved rest for our students, staff and families. It has been a long first term, and I ask that we are all kind to ourselves and each other. Let’s put in a concerted effort to have a calm and productive last week before our 2 week break. There are many wonderful things to celebrate and enjoy as we wrap things up for Term 1!

Week 10 was an important week for Pathways students as they completed their preliminary exams. The High School staff worked together to provide an organised and calm environment for the students. Well done to all our senior students for their hard work in the preparation and completion of these exams.

We also had Year 6 and Year 9 students from Korowal, and from outside the school, complete Drama and Music auditions for the 2019 scholarships (Art auditions are on Monday afternoon). Saturday was the Academic component of the scholarship process with all applicants sitting exams from ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research). These exams are designed to be challenging and I congratulate all the students who have applied themselves to this process.

The talents of the HSC Drama class were recently on full display in an original production created by the students and facilitated by their teacher Kelly. In the words of Helena (Year 12), “The aim of our show, What is Child, is to explore the idea of what it truly is to be a child in the modern world. The experience of devising our own show has taken us on a wild journey, where we’ve learnt more about each other and ourselves.”

In addition to the demanding rehearsal schedule, which is integral to any successful show, the class engaged in a range of valuable learning experiences this term. They travelled to the Seymour Centre in February to view OnStage, outstanding live performances from the 2017 HSC high achieving Drama students. Also in February, they participated in a five hour physical theatre workshop facilitated by an external coach. More recently, they experienced the privilege of working with a professional actor, Elaine, who assisted students with their
voice projection and physicality on stage.

This week’s post will mostly address a significant conference which Louise and I attended in Melbourne. However, not before we sing the praises of our senior students.

In Week 8, while we were away, our Pathways drama students performed their devised theatre piece to family and friends. Fortunately I was able to view a final rehearsal before going to Melbourne. As an audience member it had a powerful impact, for the students presented vignettes of the imprint of our adult world on children, of sibling rivalries, of the changes that the digital age is having on creative play, as well as further themes of childhood. It was challenging, discomforting and entertaining, and the students did a marvellous job of both creating and performing this piece. Kelly and her students are to be congratulated on their bravery, creativity and hard work to present such an important show to us. Thank you all.

NSW Health recently advised that there is an outbreak of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) in NSW, mainly affecting school aged children. One student at Korowal has been diagnosed with this particular disease, and is recovering at home until well enough to return to school. There have also been cases at our School of students experiencing fever, headaches, lethargy, frequent vomiting, gastroenteritis, and conjunctivitis.

There was a very exciting moment on Tuesday this week in Upper Primary as the furniture, ordered for the Pomegranate Room over 3 months ago, finally arrived. Year 5 & 6 have been greatly anticipating these new tables since the start of the year. The tables are designed to ensure collaborative learning, with flexible configurations to make circles, semi-circles and long waves. It hasn’t taken long for the class to settle in with them, as you can see from the photo below.

Year 6 finished their week with a camp out at school. This was a catch up from the traditional Year 5 camp, postponed last year due to rain. Kizz and Elise shared the responsibility and joy of guiding the students through organisation, tent set up and meal preparation. I left them after a lovely pre-dinner gratitude circle in which everyone was able to say something they were grateful for before tucking into the food their peers had prepared and cooked.

In Week 6 we felt the morning and evening chill creeping in. Autumn is such a beautiful season in the Blue Mountains.

This week our Year 6 Swimmer, Darcy Hollingworth, represented Korowal at the Regional Combined Independent Schools Swimming Carnival (CIS) and to her amazement she cut 4 seconds off a personal best, went through to take first and second places in many races. This qualifies Darcy to swim at the NSW CIS Primary Championships 2018 in the 50 m freestyle, 50 m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 50 m Fly. What a huge effort! Congratulations Darcy, and thank you for representing Korowal as a sole swimmer for the primary events.